Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery
The Special Collections Department of the Cleveland Public Library has digitized several items related to Sri Lanka, mostly acquired from the collection of John Griswold White. These include ten issues of The Ceylon National Review from 1906-1911, Patrick Geddes’ Town Planning in Colombo (1921), and a palm-leaf manuscript that includes mantras, recipes for medicinal oil, and an expansive Sanskrit-Sinhala lexicon of plant names. There is also a large volume of Sinhala poetry pamphlets (kavi kola) from the early-twentieth century, with several rare items. It includes two biographies of the Kandyan court-poet Andare, two stories of the folktale fool Mahadenamutta, a copy of Raban Pada (verses sung by women playing a large drum together), Kalagedi folk dance verses, the comic folk drama Sokari Kathāva, a poem describing the road from Colombo to Kandy, folksongs of laborers and artisans, lullabies, poems meant to impart moral advice or demonstrate poetic prowess, Kalu Siliňdu Kathāva (a story opposing caste discrimination), love poetry, a poem about a high-profile murder in Kotuwella, and more. All items can be downloaded as high-resolution PDFs.
